Apparatus for producing rock wool products



APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING ROCK WOOL PRODUCTS Driginal Filed Jan 5, 1927'Patented Feb. 20, 1934 PATENT OFFICE APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING ROCK WOOLPRODUCTS Edward R. Powell, Alexandria, Ind., assignor to Banner RockCorporation, Alexandria, !nd., a corporation of Delaware Originalapplication January 5, 1927, Serial No.

159,228. Divided and this application January 16, 1928, SerialNO.247,175. Renewed June 26,

9 Claims.

This invention relates to a method of, and apparatus for producing animproved felted rock or mineral wool and also relates to a productcomposed of said improved wool.

This invention is a division of my patent No. 1,656,828, dated January1'7, 1928.

Among the several objects of the invention may be noted the provision ofimproved means for blowing and subsequently felting said wool so as toobtain the strongest product possible and at the same time the maximum.insulating efliciency which the material can maintain; and the provisionof adjustable apparatus adapted to produce said improved wool quicklyand cheaply in various thicknesses and textures and densities. Otherobjects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the elements and combination ofelements, features of construction, arrangements of parts, and the stepsand sequence of steps which will be exemplified in the structurehereinafter described, and

the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the followingclaims.

In the accompanying drawing, in which is illustrated one of the variouspossible embodiments of the invention,

Fig. l is a diagrammatic vertical section of a blow chamber and includesalso an enlarged detail showing the preferred method of laminating theproduct;

Fig. 2 is a lateral section of said blow chamber taken on line 2--2 ofFig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of a roller showing the application ofside guides.

Similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout theseveral views of the drawing.

Referring now more particularly to Fig. 1, there is illustrated atnumeral 11, the molten slag outlet from a mineral wool cupola of .aconventional type.

As is illustrated in Fig. 1, the liquid rock,

broadly of the kind disclosed in my Patent No.

rapidly moving steam of the jet 31 draws the precipitating meltedmaterial out into innumerable fine atomized glassy threads at theforward end of many of which is formed a minute ball or drop. Insettling down, most of the resulting fibers of rock or mineral wool losethe ball or drop; but'whether attached or detached the small dropsusually appear in the resulting mass of glassy threads, unless they arepermitted to drop out.

It remains to felt down the rock wool and in the process permit theremoval-of many of the small drops.

The following method of felting is based on the fact that rock ormineral wool comprises a brittle fiber and will not permit of tearing,rending or reassembling, as is practicable in making textile andasbestos products. The strongest felt which can be made of rock wool isthat which is naturally formed by the gentle and gradual pressure thatthe material exerts as it falls in the chamber into which it is blown bythe steam jet.

By felting in the above manner the maximum insulating eflficiency ofwhich the material is cap'able is obtained. This is because a maximumnumber of the fibers lie with their lengths parallel to the horizontalplanes of the material. Rock wool, when felted in this way, comprises apliable material which may be formed to fit various surfaces or intovarious recesses.

Referring again to Fig. 1, the improved method of felting will bedescribed:

A blow chamber 35 is provided with an inlet mouth 37 adapted to receivethe steam jet 31 which carries the spray of melted, atomized and fasthardening fibrous materials. An outlet 39 for air and steam is providedat or near the top of said chamber 35;

It will be seen that the bottom portions 41 of the chamber 35 taperinwardly and downwardly in hopper form. These portions 41 have smoothsides and descend to regions in proximity to the upper reach of a movingconveyor belt 43. The portions 41 and the ends of the chamber 35cooperate with said conveyor 43 in a manner such that the blown wooldoes not escape from the chamber before it is desired to have it do so.This is done by means of a narrow channel 42 of width equal to the widthof the layer of finthe rock wool from the blow chamber by way of anopening 47.

Just above the conveyor and outside of the chamber 35 is pivoted at 36 aroller-supporting frame 49 which supports a plurality of roller axles51. These axles reach through suitable slots in the channel 42 and carryrollers 53 within the channel 42. The rollers 53 are approximately thewidth of said channel. At the end of the frame 49, opposite the pivot36, the frame 49 is provided with an adjusting screw 55 for the purposeof raising and lowering said lastnamed end.

Another roller 5'7 is carried on the frame 49 outside of the opening 47.

The above described construction positions the rollers 53 inside of thechannel 42 and above the conveyor 43; and the roller 5'7 outside of thechamber, above the conveyor. The arrangement of rollers with respect tothe length of the channel 42 is such that the elevation of each of theplurality of rollers is greater than that of the preceding one (readingFig. 1 from left to right). It is to be understood that any othersuitable number of rollers may be used, three being shown by way ofexample.

The outside roller shaft 59 is driven from the conveyor drive 61 bymeans of a gear drive 63 (shown conventionally) and in turn drives therollers 53, 53 by means of a sprocket-and-chain system 65. The gearingis such that the surface speeds of the rollers are about equalto thesurface speed of the conveyor belt and preferably in the same direction.The idler wheels 66 thereof are movable upon a swing support 62 aboutthe center of their driving gear 68, so as to accommodate adjustmentfrom the screw 55.

From the above it may be seen that a large space is provided above forpermitting the wool to fiufi and feather out, to form fine particles andfibers. Then, as the wool settles, the hopper sides and the Wools ownweight compress it gently until it rests on the moving conveyor 43. Theconveyor is made of foraminous material of a rather fine mesh whichpermits dropping out of the fine beads or balls in the blown material.The left-hand roller compresses the wool deposited ahead of it as saidwool is fed thereunder by the conveyor. This puts a lower strip or layer44 of compressed wool between the two inner rollers upon which wool 46deposits to be compressed into a second layer 48 on said first layer 44by the second roll. Two contiguous layers of wool emerge from the secondroller, upon which more wool 50 is deposited to be fed out of the blowchamber and beneath the last outside compressing roller 57 to form a toplayer 52.

It is to be understood that the compression is light and does notprovide distinct layers in the finished sheet, although a stratifyingeffect is had. The layers are merely referred to herein for convenience.

As stated before, as many rollers may be used as desired, depending uponthe number of layers required. The slope of the line of rollers anddistance apart govern the thickness and/or texture but this may beadjustably varied by varying the speed of the conveyor drive 45. Thevariation in texture and/or thickness is thus had because a differenttime is allowed for accretion of wool as the conveyor speed is changed.

The advantage in laying the wool down in layers instead of compressingit to the desired thickness in one operation, lies in the fact that thefibers lie in more parallel planes near the surfaces on which givenaccretions rest. Hence, by starting new accretions at intervals'onflatter surfaces of the material itself, the most efiicient felt havingfibers running substantially perpendicular to the direction of heat flowis obtained. The breaking and mashing of upstanding fibers into foldedand irregular positions is also reduced. The roll pressure being light,a substantially homogeneous sheet is the final result. The pressure usedin laying down the stratum is transmitted to the preceding strata, andinasmuch as all strata are in direct contact, the contiguous fibersthereof are interlocked.

Sometimes it is desirable to have more dense edges on a strip and thesemay be obtained by introducing inwardly slanting guides '70 ahead ofeach roller as illustrated in Fig. 3. Thus the edges of the strata arecompressed to a greater density than the interiors thereof. The moredense edges'prevent fraying out of the material when it is handled.

From the conveyor the material is preferably fed to a cutting plate 67and cut into suitable lengths by shears 69 or other means. Before theplate 67 is reached the sheet of wool is further impregnated with bindermaterial issuing in jets 71, '73. The binders described herein maycomprise such substances as asphalt, sodium silicate, casein, glue, waxor similar materials.

The improved product includes the advantages hereinbefore described. Thecut sheets of material are assembled into an insulating block by layingdown a sheet of wool, then applying a sheet '77 of less porous materialsuch as tar or roofing paper, then a sheet '75 of wool material and soon, until a predetermined size of laminated block is formed. This blockmay be held in assembled position by wire stapling, sewing, luing orwrapping. Its advantage is due to the fact that when the air in theblock expands and contracts under thermal changes, the air breathingaction thereof does not take moisture to the interior of the block soreadily as when a nonlaminated assembly is used.

It is evident that the moisture cannot enter the center of the blockover the short paths from the sideward faces 79, 81 because it cannotpass through the non-porous sheets of tar paper or the like. In otherwords, the moisture is forced to take a long path from the edges 83, 85of the block and for a given period of breating will not travel as farinto the interior.

In view of the above, it will be seen that the several objects of theinvention are achieved and other advantageous results attained.

As many changes could be made in carrying out the above constructionswithout departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended thatall matter contained in the above description or shown in theaccompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in alimiting sense.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for making rock and mineral wools comprising a blowchamber, means for blowing fibrous material into said chamber, a movingconveyor engaging the lower end of said blow chamber to continuouslycarry out said material and rollers cooperating with the conveyor withinthe chamber to stratify the wool.

2. Apparatus for making rock and mineral wools comprising a blowchamber, means for blowing fibrous material into said chamber, a movingconveyor engaging the lower end of said blow chamber to carry out saidmaterial after it settles, and rollers cooperating with the conveyor tostratify said material, said rollers being placed in ascendingelevations within the chamber.

3. Apparatus for making rock and mineral wools comprising a blowchamber, means for blowing fibrous material into said chamber, a movingconveyor engaging the lower .end of said blow chamber to carry out saidmaterial after it settles, and rollers within the chamber cooperatingwith the conveyor to stratify said material, said rollers being placedin ascending elevations and being adjustable.

4. Apparatus for making rock and mineral wools comprising a blowchamber, means for blowing fibrous material into said chamber, atapering lower region in said chamber including a channel, a conveyor insaid channel adapted to receive settling wool and rollers in the chamberplaced over said conveyor in ascending elevation in the direction ofconveyor movement, the lower surfaces of said rollers being adapted tomove in the direction of the conveyor.

5. In a machine of the class described the combination with a settlingchamber, of means for forming mineral wool fibres and projecting theminto said chamber, a conveyor arranged to receive the fibres as theyfall in the chamber to form a layer, means for treating the fibres witha binder, and means to compact the layer of fibers during the advance ofthe latter to form a bat.

6. In a machine of the class described, the

combination with a settling chamber otmeans for forming mineral woolfibers and projecting them into said chamber, a conveyor arranged toreceive the fibers as they fall in the chamber. and a roller inside ofsaid chamber and acting on the collected layer 0! fibers to compact themas they are advanced by said conveyor.

7. In a machine of the class described, the combination with a settlingchamber of means for forming mineral wool fibers and projecting theminto said chamber, a conveyor arranged to receive the fibers as theyfall in the chamber, said conveyor extending outside of said chamber,and means outside of said chamber to compact the layer of fibers duringthe advance of the latter.

8. In a machine of the class described, the combination with a settlingchamber of means for forming mineral wool fibers and projecting theminto said chamber, a conveyor arranged to receive the fibers as theyfall in the chamber, and a roller to compact the layer of fibers duringthe advance of the latter to form a bat.

' 9. In a machine of the class described, the combination with asettling chamber of means for forming mineral wool fibers and projectingthem into said chamber, a conveyor arranged to receive the fibers asthey fall in the chamber and to advance the produced layer, and a memberengaging said 'layer to compact the latter to a bat of predeterminedthickness and density.

EDWARD R. POWELL.

